Life Lessons

Hubs is having a guys night tonight, playing Settlers of Cattan and loving every minute of it.  I'm enjoying some quiet time upstairs, half listening to the hilarious game commentary in various forms of a Russian accent (why Russian, I'm not sure, but it is quite entertaining).  I'm using the evening to get my brain put back together after a staff retreat and a long week.  Here are the lessons I've been taught (I hesitate to claim to have learned them):

Life Lesson #1 - Sometimes planning isn't all it's cracked up to be
     We had a 30 Hour Famine at our church for the middle school students.  Basically, they don't eat for just over a day to raise awareness and funds for World Vision's efforts to aid those who need it to survive.  All last week, I was telling my co-workers to just tell me what they needed from me and I would be available to help make it happen.  By the time Sunday rolled around, I was speaking once, bringing bagels for the leaders (we fasted the week before so we wouldn't maim any middle school students in our sleep and food deprived state) and driving for a game.  The programming was well-intentioned, I thought, but doomed to fail because there was a severe lack of enough licensed drivers, back-up plans or even knowing how many students would be there.  By the end of the event, I was not only proven wrong, but blown away by the way that God used that event to connect so many parents to the ministry in such a positive way.  Sure, there wasn't a typed out plan, but there were loads of great people willing to be flexible, parents who pitched in a helped and a very understanding leader who knows the value of trusting other people with a plan.  Perhaps that will be a lesson for later, but in the meantime...

Life Lesson #2 - If you don't make time for people, don't expect them to make time for you
     I have a bad habit of not keeping in touch with people.  And by not keeping in touch, I mean not calling one of my dearest friends from the west coast for 5 months.  Yikes.  I really wonder why people continue to be my friend, sometimes.  So she Facebook messaged me, and I text messaged her, and a couple of voicemails later, we still have not had a legitimate conversation.  And yes, I promise I'll try calling her again after I finish writing this post.  But seriously, time and trust are two of the most precious gifts we can give to friends, because one is so easily spent and one so easily shattered.  I hope that this lesson was not just taught, but hopefully will be learned soon.

Life Lesson #3 - Play in the rain, even if you're freezing cold and don't have any clean socks to change into
     I mentioned I just got home from a staff retreat, right?  My favorite annual event is the hike through the beautiful woods on the camp property.  Because it was cold and there were evil, threatening clouds in sight, only 6 of us ladies went out.  After we'd been hiking for about a half hour, two of the smarter women turned back to shelter, dry socks and a hot shower.  The rest of us pressed on, determined to finish the loop we had started (OK, so we maybe lost the initial loop we had planned on hiking, but we were at least determined to finish our second choice hike).  It started raining lightly, but we were in the shelter of the autumnal masterpiece that God had painted in the Laurel Mountains.  Then, just as we exited the quiet peace of the hibernating trees, it started to downpour.  Big, fat drops of water careened into my eyes and soaked my jeans, not to mention my shoes and socks as the leaves were being thrown about by the wind like we were in some giant blender.  So, we started running.  And as we were running in deep mud, getting soaked by freezing cold rain, I started laughing.  And so did my hiking buddies.  There we were, four grown women soaked to the bone, running on a muddy path, laughing so hard we were having a hard time keeping our bladders under control.  It was freeing to run in the rain.  Freeing because there was absolutely nothing I could do to stay dry or warm or get us back to camp any quicker.  So we gave up on our hike, turned around back into the shelter of the trees and headed back, still laughing about the bears and snakes that were inevitably stalking us and wondering if anyone else had brought a hair dryer.  I loved it.  I loved how tired my body was, how good it felt to snuggle up into my sleeping bag after I peeled off my sopping wet clothes, and how I was able in those moments to be completely free from the burdens of life as it is.

Life Lesson #4 - God can use anything for His glory
     My best friend and her husband suffered the loss of their first son this summer, at 20 weeks of pregnancy.  I'll never forget that day, breaking down in the church office and crying so hard that I physically could not stand.  This week was supposed to be her due date.  This week, I was supposed to be driving up to the hospital, holding Grant in my arms and telling him how lucky he was to have such great parents.  Instead, I am left reflecting on all of the beauty, grace and healing that God has wrought out of such heartbreak.  I have watched my friend and her husband be truly open about their loss, but through all of the grieving, never blame God for the pain.  I have seen them share her story with others and through that, others have caught a glimpse of a God that is faithful, full of love, and who redeems the broken things of this world to give them purpose.  He has taken what most people would call a tragedy and turned it into a story of hope, courage, and His love.  I am truly blessed to have both of them in my life, and to call Cara my friend.  I'm truly looking forward to whatever it is that God has in store for us next, because He is the only one I can trust with whatever comes next.

So that was my week.  Let's see what God brings tomorrow.